by By Gary Delagnes, featured on SFGate.com
As president of the San Francisco Police Officers' Association, it is my job to protect the members, represent their collective interests and ensure they are held to the highest standard to serve the public at large. All officers take a meaningful oath to serve the public and put their lives on the line to defend and abide by the Constitution. If individual officers cross that line, then there needs to be accountability in the name of law and order.
Yet the public needs to understand two things; the reality of our jobs on the front line defending citizens from harm by individuals who prey upon the innocent and disenfranchised, and the ongoing political posturing between those who arrest and defend alleged criminals.
In the case of the Henry Hotel, the main suspect has been arrested more than 30 times. He is one of the largest cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine dealers South of Market Street.
The video surveillance at the Henry Hotel allegedly showed police officers illegally entering the premises of residents of an SRO hotel without proper warrants. The videos were discovered by San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi, who then released them to the media, challenging the testimony of the officers and questioning District Attorney George Gascón's potential conflict of interest in investigating the case, which occurred when he was serving as chief of police.
We believe the officers in the Henry Hotel case will be exonerated when all the facts are in. If they made mistakes, then they will be held accountable, but the release of those videos was clearly done in a premeditated and politically motivated fashion.
Our officers have watched the suspect in this case walk in and out of the criminal justice system for years. We put our lives on the line to protect San Franciscans and keep poisonous drugs out of the hands of our children and those who are trying to get clean and become productive members of society. Nobody performs more acts of social outreach than the cops on the street.
Holding officers accountable is one thing, but attempting to embarrass them and to paint with a broad brush concerns about the conduct of the members of the San Francisco Police Department and its organizational culture is unwarranted.
I refuse to stand idly by without reaction while those who put on a badge every day to keep our neighborhoods safe are attacked without due process.
We, as police officers, go in to dangerous places that an ordinary citizen would find unimaginable to enter in an effort to protect your safety.
It's unfortunate that a grandstanding public defender cannot afford the same rights to these accused officers as he does the countless recidivist criminals he defends every day. Justice should be the cause of bringing these circumstances to light, not blind political ambition.
